Havas AFK
An agency made by gamers, for gamers
Havas AFK is a new breed of marketing that integrates brands away from keyboard and into gaming culture.
Gaming isn't just about playing. It is a lifestyle.
We are the gaming hub of Havas.
We know how to put your brand in gamers’ posse.
We know how to take you AFK.
We gave gamers a reason to care about Coca-Cola.
AFK successfully launched The Coca-Cola Company’s partnership with Riot Games’ Wilf Rift title. Since early 2021, AFK has been working side-by-side with The Coca-Cola Company’s global entertainment team in identifying the correct publisher & title, partnership negotiations, developing the strategic partnership activations, and now, bringing this partnership to life within the global gaming community.
Grounded in our strategic approach: The Beautiful Game… With Rocket Powered Cars, we developed a three-phased content campaign approach that would not only reignite the passion of pre-existing RLCS fans but also entice curious new viewers.
As the Fan of Fans, Coca-Cola celebrated fans in the place they call home. For Blizzard and Overwatch fans, home is the Panorama Diner. A widely known location in Overwatch, it’s the in-game realization of a home away from home. We brought in-game lore to life in a way that only Coke could do, and only Blizzard fans would appreciate, by meticulously recreating the Panorama Diner, Now Serving Coca-Cola.
The idea of extending what Louis Vuitton has done in more traditional sports to esports was only natural. The luxury brand partnered up with the global competition to design a one-of-a-kind trophy case to hold the coveted Summoner’s Cup. The travel case, revealed before the final, used state-of-the-art technology and equipment, and it took Louis Vuitton over 900 hours to create.
Fanta fans know our products—and as individuals, they’re in need of something new to express themselves and their interests in order to stay excited about the brand. Enter DFZS. DFZS needed to stand out in the “sea of sameness” and intrigue our audience enough that they crave the newest LTO and can’t wait to get it in their hands. We live-streamed a mysterious pink Dragon Egg that cracks more and more over the course of 2 hours until finally breaking open to reveal new DFZS. We partnered with Twitch influencer Firedragon, to squad stream the hatch with us. Leading up to the hatching, we rolled out hidden dragon fruits (Dragon Drops) + teaser content.
Minority gamers are routinely left out of mainstream eSports coverage. Additionally, Historically Black Colleges & Universities were late entries into the tournament/league space despite the overwhelming majority of Black/African-Americans that regularly participate in gaming activities. The official HBCU eSports League and AFK NxT content series sought to bridge the gap and spotlight innovation in this community. During the inaugural season of the HBCU eSports League (November - April), AFK partnered with Cxmmunity for four 2-5 minute content pieces relevant to the associated stream. Each piece was designed to highlight a facet of the Black gaming community and/or HBCU experience from the rise of collegiate eSports, HBCU gaming labs, Black women in gaming and entertainment, and general eSports opportunities. AFK & Cxmmunity brought together partners such as Twitch, 100Thieves, Verizon, DTLR, Intel to bring this streaming series to live. Throughout the series, AFK NxT averaged 600,000 viewers per stream and even drew the attention of 1.1M viewers during the ProAm stream in 2021.
The world’s first-ever sponsorship of a virtual athlete. Coca-Cola went beyond basic brand placement and further than any brand had gone before by endorsing the in-game avatar Alex Hunter. Gamers were given the opportunity to play through an extensive brand experience within the game’s Journey mode and were offered something that had never been seen before: an in-game ad spot, where Alex Hunter accepted a can of Coke Zero from a fan (in a recreation of the famous Mean Joe Green spot).
Captain Morgan tasked us with developing a long-term strategy for the brand in gaming, which involved carving out a clear role and positioning, developing ownable territories and consumption occasions for product, and providing beverages and services to gamers in a contextually-relevant way. We identified the brand's positioning in gaming as Just For Fun: for Captain Morgan to be a champion for those good times gaming with friends - the laughing and bantering over headsets, the times where the leaderboard doesn't matter, the moments where the in-game lobby feel like the local pub. We started by introducing Captain Morgan into relevant gaming occasions and sub-occasions by creating our own Influencer network. Then we landed Captain Morgan in gaming culture by designing 3 gamer-focused RTD cans: each one labelled with a low-intensity gaming moment, demonstrating that Captain Morgan cans are the perfect downtime companion to gaming. We took things from online to IRL and invited gamers to game with Captain Morgan together in a gamer’s dream getaway lounge. Then to round out phase 1, we created a voice command in your Google or Alexa that allows gamers to order cans of Captain direct to their door without having to leave the fun. Gamers simply wake their device and put in their order with the words: “Google, tell the Captain I’m loading”.
